Electrical contact for railway-crossing bells.



E. D. EVERY.

ELECTRICAL cowmcw FOR RAILWAY CROSSING BELLS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 13,1911.

Patented Sept. 8, 1912 VIIIII/I/i/IYI/WI/(II/iI/IJII/IIIITJTIZ/IZIT/(I 1- 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE j COLUMBIA FLANDGRAPH 60., WASHIN c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST I). EVERY, OF MASON, MICHIGAN.

ELECTRICAL CONTACT FOR RAILWAY-CROSSING BELLS.

To all whom "it may concern Be it known that I, ERNEST D. EVERY, a British subject, residing at Mason, in the county of Ingham, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Contacts for Railway Crossing Bells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an electrical contact for railway crossing alarms or bells and the primary object of the invention is to provide an improved and simple contact which will be positive in operation, durable and ei'licient in use and economical to manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved contact which may be protected by a cover so that the device will. operate under all weather conditions and obviate the inconveniences and objections caused by exposed third rail contacts or overhead trolley contacts for operating an alarm or bell at crossings.

Vith the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain other constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, it being a still fur ther object of the invention to provide a device which will not be likely to get out of working order.

In the drawings :Figure 1. is a top plan view of my improved contact member applied to a section of a rail and shown connected in circuit with an alarm. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the device. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the contact carried by the rail.

In alarm devices now commonly employed, but a single contact is effected by a car when used in connection with a thirdrail system and in snowy or inclement weather the contact is impossible while in the case of trolley contacts, the trolley wheel often leaves the wire at the cut in end and the car floats by the cut out or passes by the same before the trolley wheel is replaced on the wire and. the alarm or bells will continue to operate until another car passes the cut out. These objections are overcome by my improved device which is adapted to operate by closing of a circuit by Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 13, 1911.

Patented Sept. 3,1912.

Serial No. 660,045.

the wheels of the car passing over a de pressible member carried by one of the rails and thus produce a contact or close the circuit four (4) times in passing over each contact with cars of the present day construction.

i Vith the above objects in view, my invention consists in providing a rail with a movable or depressible contact member 11, the same comprising a fiat section of spring steel having one end bolted to the web of the rail near its flange as shown at 12 and then twisted for one quarter of a turn as shown at 13 to render it more resilient bv reason of the portion 14 which extends diagonally upwardly to the underside of the ball of the rail, while an upwardly bulged or wheel engaging portion 15 is provided to extend above the rail at the outside edge of the ball thereof and has its end portions inclined as shown at 16. The wheel engaging member is bent outwardly as shown at 17 to form shoulders limiting the upward movement thereof bv engagement with the underface of the ball of the rail, one end being connected to the portion 14- while the free extremity of the movable contact member is bent downwardly as shown at 18 and provided with an outwardly extending arm 19 in close proximity to the ground surface.

A base board 20 forming an insulating member is supported outside the rails at the proper point and has a resilient arm 21 secured thereto at one end by means of wood or non-conducting screws or fasteners 22. said resilient arm 9.1being preferably formed of spring steel and having its free end portion offset from the member 20 so that the free extremities of the arms 19 and 2.1 will lie one above the other for closing an electrical circuit through the closure contact tips 23 and. 24; after one of the wheels passes over the depressible contact member 11. Circuit wires 25 and 26 lead from the arm 21. and rail 10 respectively and are connected in circuit with batteries or other suitable source of electrical energy 27 and an alarm bell or mechanism 28 so that as the contact members are moved into engagement the circuit will be closed through the batteries and. bell to operate the latter and since bv the usual construct-ion each car is provided with four wheels at each side. four (4) successive operations of the alarm will take place during the passing of a car, this will be sufiicient to form a proper signal for a cross-in and the resiliency of the movable contact member 11 will serve to normally raise the engaging portion in position for operation and thus break the circuit and prevent operation of the alarm after the car has passed thereover while said movable contact member which is connected to the rail forms the ground end of the circuit. A casing 29 which is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l of the drawings is also adapted to be supported upon the base member and is formed with a vertical slot 30 in one end through which the arm 19 operates, thereby providing an eflicient form of alarm device for the purposes stated.

I claim An electrical contact for railway crossing alarms comprising a depressible member formed of a single section of resilient metal and adapted to be rigidly secured to the Web of a rail at one end, said section being then twisted and extended diagonally upward beneath the ball of the rail and formed with a horizontal bulged portion disposed above the ball of the rail for engagement by a car wheel, the portions of the section at the ends of the bulged portion extending under the ball to form shoulders limiting the upward movement thereof and having its free eX- tremity formed with a laterally extended resilient arm, a resilient arm supported adjaeent to and beneath said first named arm in an offset position and an electrical circuit including a suitable source of energy and an alarm device connected to the arms to be closed by contactof the latter, said depressible member forming the ground end of the circuit.

In testimony whereof, I atfiX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST D. EVERY. Witnesses G. W. MILLER, B. KETCHUM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

